The Beginning of Summer’s End

The sun stands still for just a day before again heading south

By J. Alex Knoll

In the early morning Saturday, at 6:51am EDT, the sun reaches its northernmost point in the sky for the year, with its center hovering directly above the Tropic of Cancer somewhere in Africa. On solstice, the sun appears to pause in place, holding steady for several days directly overhead at high noon — solstice in fact means sun standing still. You can see proof of the sun standing still in this week’s times of sunrise and sunset, listed below, which barely change.
This solstice marks the Northern Hemisphere’s longest day of the year, with 14 hours 54 minutes of sunlight here along Chesapeake Bay. And while there is no universal body that dictates the start of the seasons, this celestial phenomenon is universally seen as the start of summer for the Northern Hemisphere and the start of winter for those below the equator.
The earth spins at a 231⁄2-degree tilt, causing the north side of the planet to more directly face the sun for half the year and the south side to more directly face the sun the other half of the year. At the time of the June solstice, the North Pole points almost directly at the sun, while December’s solstice has the South Pole pointing sunward. Right now, we’re enjoying that sunward tilt, and all those extra hours of daylight add up to the season’s much warmer temperatures.
While it is only the start of summer and the days will continue to grow warmer for some time to come, it is also the beginning of summer’s end. The very next day after solstice, the sun begins its southward march, albeit ever so slightly at first, and the length of daylight wanes. For millenia, cultures have tracked the sun’s path across the sky, measuring the length of daylight and the location of the sunrise and sunset throughout the year. The ancient Celts built Stonehenge, built at least 5,000 years ago in alignment with the solstices and sunrise. Around the same time, the Egyptians were building their own monuments to the sun and the passing seasons. From a vantage atop the Great Sphinx on the day of June’s solstice, the sun set directly between the oldest of the Great Pyramids.
The sun may be the star this week, but the waning crescent moon makes good showings with Venus low in the east before dawn Monday and Tuesday, when only two degrees separate the two. Early Wednesday the moon is just above of the bright star Aldebaran in Taurus.